Restore Us, O God (Psalm 80:3)

“Restore us, O God; Make Your face shine upon us, that we may be saved” (Psalm 80.3)

The prayer concern of the worshiper is restoration. Restore us, O God. But restore us to what? Had the worshiper fallen into sin? Had his love grown cold? Was he failing to love neither his God supremely nor his neighbor as himself? Was his marriage in trouble? Restore us, O God. It could have been either or all of the above.

Make Your face shine upon us. The worshiper saw clearly his only hope for restoration to whatever he needed restoring—God’s smile. The Hebrew had a saying indicating that if God looked at you and smiled, your life would be blessed. Make Your face shine!

Thus our only hope to be saved. Selah.

Let Us Pray—

Father God. How we long for Your face to shine upon us…How we need to experience the smile of Your countenance. We need restoration! We need salvation! Not from others primarily, nor from our circumstances. Mostly, our Savior, we need salvation from ourselves—Especially ourselves! Save us, O God, from ourselves! Make Your face ever shine upon us…Give us peace. Amen.